In general, a chart integration device (or chart integrator) is a device that records mechanical or electrical input data by means of moving a chart (paper or other physical media) across one or more moving pens. FIG. 1 is an illustrative prior art flowchart 100 of a manual method for analyzing such a chart. Chart integration devices are utilized extensively in industry to effectively and efficiently accomplish long-term data acquisition and integration. Presently, conventional methods require many steps to bring the data captured on chart recorders to a useful end. As illustrated, at a first step 102, conventional methods collect a physical chart. Collecting a physical chart requires an operator to physically travel to the location of the chart recorder, which may, in some circumstances, may be located in a very remote area. In some examples, many hundreds or thousands of chart recorders may be in operation at one or more locations. At a next step 104, the physical chart is delivered to a processing location. Delivery may be accomplished in many different manners, however, utilizing mail services is common. It may be further appreciated that the delay in delivery introduced at this step may undermine the ability to rapidly respond to fluctuations in the input data.
At a next step 106, the physical chart may be physically traced by a chart integration operator. As is currently practiced, the physical chart may be placed on a tracing stand device whereupon the chart integration operator will trace the lines representing input data by utilizing a handheld electronic stylus or pointing device. In this manner, the input data is converted into a digital representation of the physical chart. At a next step 108 the now digitized chart data may be processed and analyzed, whereupon the chart results may be sent to a computational department or third party vendor at a step 110. It may be appreciated that because each step prior to digitalization introduces time delays and human error, the timeliness and accuracy of the data may be compromised and may result in ineffective process control leading to production inefficiencies or failures.
FIG. 2 is an illustrative prior art representation of chart 200 and manually processed chart 210 using conventional methods. In particular, FIG. 2 illustrates prior art chart 200 otherwise known as a circular chart paper. Chart 200 includes gridlines 202 that represent a numerical scale having a known interval. Circular charts manufactured by companies such as Barton, ABB, and Honeywell, etc. are well-known in the art. Chart 200 further includes recorded data 204 and 206. Recorded data represents changes in process variables or parameters over time. Further illustrated in FIG. 2 is a digital representation of a manually traced chart 210, which includes gridlines 212 and data lines 214 and 216 that correspond with recorded data lines 204 and 206 respectively.
As such, methods for automated chart analysis are presented herein.